Queen of the Jungle
by ArtisticWord
Summary: Elsa suddenly finds herself in a jungle of talking animals and Anna is charged with capturing a smart kid in red underwear. (Jungle book 2016/ Frozen crossover)
1. Prologue

Mowgli sat up from the dirt ground he usually slept on, not disturbing the snores of his family. He timidly glanced down at his family surrounding him, or at least what he could see of them from the moonlight shining in through the cave. He slowly stood onto his feet and began to take huge strides across furry tails and lightly breathing bodies, until he had managed to kick any of them up until he was nearing the cave opening. His foot skidded lightly over a tail, and he flinched with worry. But the body didn't do much more than flinch, allowing Mowgli to step out of the cave swiftly and into the shine of the moonlight. He glanced at the watering hole near his sandy home and took a moment to admire the beauty of the white shine on the surface. It was so pale; rippling or sparkling with each gentle gust of wind and yet dark on the edges not touched by moonlight...

The young boy couldn't sleep apparently. He had sat awake for the first hours of the night, staring up at the ceiling of the cave in peace and making no sound. He hadn't snored once, he hadn't yawned once and he only closed his eyes when he blinked. It was actually rather frustrating to say the least, and Mowgli rubbed his scalp of dark hair with that frustration.

" _Mowgli?"_

The boy didn't turn around, hearing the feminine voice from the cave. How on earth did she always know he was up?

" _Is something the matter? Upset stomach? Bad dreams?"_

Mowgli shook his head calmly, looking up at the moon as he had before. He heard a light padding of footsteps, and from the corner of his vision he could see dark blue eyes gleaming from the darkness. " _Then what keeps you up, my son?_ "

"I dunno..." He shrugged halfheartedly. "I just can't sleep."

" _I see, little one..._ " The one he was speaking to raised her head to gaze at the moon too, and he could see the outline of her muzzle from the pale light. _" The moon is just like this...She became the moon because she wanted to be an object in the sky, shining brighter than any star and helping others see in the darkness. Sometimes she can stay up in the sky for weeks and maybe even end entire month. But sometimes...the moon gets tired from her restless actions, and so she rests with the sun on those nights, usually bringing darkness in her dissapearance."_

He was obviously entertained by the tale, as evidenced by the small grin in his face. "It's a good thing you all can see at night, huh?"

His mother lightly chuckled at the remark. " _Yes, I suppose so...If you're restless, you'll only be so for so long. You stay up this night, you may feel sleepy the next."_

She yawned, and Mowgli saw her sharp teeth gleam in the moonlight. " _Well...I suppose I'll join your father and brothers now."_

"Okay...I won't be out long." Mowgli assured her, seeing the smile she gave before the figure trotted back into the cave. The young boy looked back up at the sky with a somewhat hopeful smile, thinking that perhaps some day he'd touch those stars. Perhaps it would be a ticklish feeling, or maybe he would discover the feeling as warm glow in his hands. Whatever way it felt, he knew that he wanted a star of his very own someday. That was when Mowgli took notice of the bright blue light that streaked across the sky at alarming speeds. His jaw dropped in shock; A star must have fallen out of the sky! But how? They were usually so well balanced up there in the air and never fell over. The little began to sprint across his 'front yard' and into the dense jungle that outlined their watering hole, leaping over shadowy trees and feeling wet moss beneath his soles. The boy briefly swung on a branch and glided over a deep river with a thankfully sleeping crocodile. He continued to run in the direction that the light had landed in, seeing the faintest sign of smoke against the night sky.

Finally, Mowgli found that the ground was slightly dug and he assumed that the burrowed ground was from the star that had fallen. He followed the deep trail and found the crater, the star nestled in the center. Oddly enough, the star didn't look like a star at all...it just looked like a very large blue rock that shined from the light of the moon. The little thought hard about the rock and guessed that maybe it was still the star, but it wouldn't shine unless he got it back in it's proper place. Which kind of made him sad since he wanted to keep the star as his own.

Mowgli reached down and placed his hands on the rock, intending to pick it up.

* * *

Elsa found that she particularly despised pedicures of all kinds; no matter how skilled the pedicurist was in their job.

Anna had convinced her big sister to come with her on a quest to fulfill every act on her to do list, despite Elsa's otherwise introverted plans for the day. It was still a blur to her really; when she was seated in her favorite reading chair and finishing the fifteenth chapter of a book about a love-struck dragon slayer, only for a lightning fast figure with red pigtails to come bolting into the room and rambling something about sister time. before Elsa could blink, she was out of the room and tugged unceremoniously down the stairs. By the time they got into a carriage, Elsa was trying to be stern about staying in the castle and reading her book. Then there was the puppy dog eyes look, Elsa finally relenting and then her doing what Anna wanted. They went to a park meant for toddlers, rented a boat to sail on the fjords for an hour or two, chased a pig Anna set free from a farmer who wasn't trying to kill it in the first place, and then sampled a dozen chocolate cake pieces. The most recent act committed by the two sisters was the pedicure, which was only pleasant for the princess. Elsa grunted and groaned every few seconds at the painful angles her foot was twisted or bent, and how they had to wash in every crevice and nook for her toenails before they finished with a red paint. that was the worst part; She was an ICE queen for heaven's sake! What business did red have being near a person of her sparkling blue color?

"That was Amazing Elsa!' Anna cheerfully exclaimed, which honestly made Elsa want to punch her right then and there. "I feel like a new woman already! I got my toenails painted purple! OOOH! I wish I had red like yours. You must love it so much!"

"Honestly, I don't."

"Aw, You're such a kidder big sis! Tee Hee!"

"I'm really not."

Anna either didn't catch that remark, or chose to ignore it by giving a blinding grin. "Now the next thing we have to do is get our hairstyles redone. I can't wait to see what I can do with these pigtails out of the w-"

"WAIT." Elsa said forcefully, grabbing her sister by the shoulders as fast as she could and staring intensely into her eyes. "You can drag me across all of Arendelle, torture my feet in that terrible shack you call a Spa, but I draw the line at my braid!"

"Oh come on, That style is so old!" Anna rolled her eyes. Elsa's eye twitched spastically. "You've had it for so long; You've gotta show people the new you!"

"There is no new me!" She responded defiantly. Elsa threw her arms in the air and briefly gestured around. "The only me is the one that hates being forced to go places she didn't want to go."

"Pfft, oh like you didn't wanna go-"

"No, I didn't! I couldn't even decide, what with you pushing me into the nearest building you could find! This is selfish, Anna! Even for you!"

Anna looked taken back by this and blinked in confusion. Moments later her eyes narrowed at the taller woman, crossing her arms over chest tightly. "...Excuse me, Ma'am! but you agreed to this! Weren't you the one rushing for the cake samples?"

"Because you would have taken off my arm if I hadn't moved."

"Okay, That was dramatic. You've really gotta Let it Go." Anna rolled her eyes and pleadingly smiled. "Now come on! That braid can be made into braids you knoooooow!"

"...you...It...I-It Doesn't matter!" Elsa huffed and turned on her bare heel sharply. She began to stomp away, forgetting to cast some icy heels to her feet and causing Anna to follow her hurriedly. "I'm going back home to read the rest my book and start ANOTHER one! You can stay out here and waste your share of the treasury for all i care.'

"What?! But you cant just leave me alone...,C-'moooooon!...Elsa...!" The princess' face softened to match her hurt tone, and Elsa felt a stab in her heart. She hadn't meant for things to sound like that...but Anna had reached her sister's boiling point in this matter. Still, The Queen was thankful she hadn't said anything that they couldn't come back from. " Come on...I...I'm sorry I dragged you around without...without your permission...R-Really..."

The crack in Anna's voice made Elsa freeze, and more in a physical manner. Reluctantly, The woman turned around to face the redhead with a worried and apologetic stare. Anna wasn't meeting her gaze and had instead decided to stare at the floor. "Anna...You're not crying are you...?"

"N-No..." The Princess answered despondently, sounding like a child that was denying her actions. She hadn't really cried at all; Elsa could tell when she lifted Anna's head by her chin. Those big blue orbs of her had only welled up with a few tears. "I just...You've been away for a while...You went on that trip overseas for half a week, and then when you got back you had to deal with southern isles and then the treaties...I just haven't been able to spend this much time with you in...weeks."

"Oh Anna...It hasn't been..." Elsa trailed off: It was actually true. From the calculations she did in her head, Elsa hadn't done anything more than chat briefly with her sister for two and 1/3 weeks...a fact which shook the blonde to her core. She'd made a vow since the Great thaw not to leave her sister alone socially or physically no matter what, but for the first time in forever she'd broken that promise. "...You can't apologize for this Anna...This involved business i had to take care of...I am a Queen after all, and i can't let this kingdom or you get hurt..."

"...I know..." Anna pouted up at her, and her sibling finally smiled.

"...but no matter how busy I am, I'll always be your sister. And I'll always have time for you." Elsa leaned down slightly, kissing her sister's forehead softly. Anna giggled at the family gesture and effectively dried up the oncoming tears. Elsa gave her sister an impish raise of the eyebrow coupled with a grin. "And I suppose we can do anything else you want aside from my braid."

"Well, we could shave your armpits."

Elsa glared.

"I'm just kidding! I'm just kidding!" The redhead giggled childishly and led her sister further from the pedicure place and down the street, still barefoot. The two walked past crowded areas filled with people and good and livestock and merchants from high places. there was the smell of pie in the air, and smoke and even some things that they couldn't describe. There were wooden stands over on the sidewalks, advertising jewelry and spices and animal furs to the public. But one stand caught Elsa's attention, and it was that was a very old looking stand with only one item and an old man snoring loudly behind it.

"Anna...Look at this." The snow queen pointed curiously at what appeared to be a huge ellipse gemstone of pure magenta. It was translucent to the point where they could see through the shine of light purple and spot the wood of the table below it. To the side of the stone was a note that boasted large black words: ' **TRAVEL ANYWHERE YOU WANT IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE'.**

"Wooooooooooooow..." Anna cooed, and reached out with a finger. "I'm gonna touch it."

"Don't!" Elsa lightly slapped the dainty hand away, before she hesitantly picked up the purple orb herself. It was light despite it's huge size, making it easier to look at close up. It didn't seem like she was actually going anywhere by touching the object. "Either this is broken...or it's Hoax."

" What's a Hoe- Axe?" Anna inquired and pulled off a very dumbfounded expression.

"Hoax means-"

Elsa had been their one second, blinking as she spoke. The next, Anna found that she had suddenly vanished. The Princess gasped in surprise at the sudden disappearance, worry already strangling her heart in a vice like grip. And then she was surprised that Elsa had not left empty space in her vanishing.

A little boy, wearing nothing but thick red underwear, stood there clutching the same exact stone.

* * *

"-anything believed to be real which is actuallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy..."

Elsa's sentence faded away when she noticed her surroundings. For one, there was no Anna standing before her, only a view of her hands holding the stone and a location she could not begin to describe. It was obviously a forest of some type, but it was an alien forest to her; the trees for instance didn't stand straight up like the trees of Arendelle did, and the trees of her home certainly didn't have any moss covering almost all of the bark. The ground on which she stood barefoot was like a dirt road, yet with more emphasis on dirt and with a few bits of green plants. Some plants were bigger, and were obviously flowers if exotic persuasions, and others grew on tree bark. There were a few sounds of insects making distinct mating sounds, and a few bird calls from a bird that she did not know of at all. And, as she was a woman who had power because of knowledge(and magic), Elsa was suddenly afraid of this unknown world.

"B-but...?What the...? Th-This...?!" The snow Queen frowned in horror at the stone in her hands, and she promptly dropped it to the ground. Last thing she need was to end going somewhere else. "Aaaugh! Ohhhh...Oh Kay...Okay, Elsa...Just breathe...breathe..."

Elsa whirled around when she a heard a distant snap of a twig, her gaze centering on a large log leaning sideways against a huge tree. Standing defensively on the slope of the log was what she could only describe as a cat. A very large, sleek coated black cat with angrily narrowed yellow eyes and giant flexing paws that hid sharp claws. She'd heard of places outside of Arendelle, with cats this big that stalked pigs and sometimes humans. The memory of this made her heart race in a little less than eight seconds.

The giant predatory cat growled, a vibrating rumble in it's throat that blasted through the distance between them. It hopped down onto the floor with a threatening howl, before stalking towards her with angered intent. Perhaps this was a manner of the beast being territorial, and it wasn't hungry at all. These ideas faded away with the look sent at her, and The Queen twitched as if she was about to run.

 _I should probably run...yes, that sounds...wait. House Cats can already run faster than people as it is...I don't wanna how fast this thing can run, especially in an open place like this._ Elsa took a wide step back and raised her hands defensively. The Panther still walked forward slowly...confirming how fast it could move if it needed to. _I wouldn't last four feet without him catching up to me.. But I've never used my powers on a living thing before. I might hurt it beyond medical attention. Maybe I can scare I-_

" _What have you done with him, Woman?_ "

Now she feeling a bit confused. Did she see that panther's lips and jaws move a bit? Had she heard that cynical, intimidating and wise voice come from the panther's mouth? Had she gone mad?

" _Well? Go on._ " The panther spoke again, growling a bit after that at Elsa.

Not that it mattered...For she had already fainted.

* * *

She didn't open her eyes when she first gained consciousness, nor did she move. Elsa laid wherever she believed herself to be and listened. The sounds were unfamiliar to her ears; like that chirp of the foreign bird that she remembered. How could she be hearing something like that so well?! She had only been dreaming after all...At she least she thought so. Her dreams never seemed as vivid as that dream did.

"... _still not awake...?"_

Now there was a voice, one she did not recognize at all. It sounded husky; impatient in more ways then one and oddly, It sounded like it was close to the ground. Aside from that last part it sounded like a father. The next voice she heard was vaguely familiar; something about the wise tone was recognizable to the young woman. " _No...I thought she was dead when she suddenly...collapsed. It's so strange: How cold her skin is, and yet she breathes normally as you and I."_

Elsa recalled the various occasions where she was told by Anna that her skin was 'as cold as an iceberg at the bottom of the ocean in the middle of a blizzard in the middle of the coldest part of winter'. Then again, Anna was drunk at the time and very much so.

 _"She had better use that breath to tell me where my cub..."_ The voice was closer, the light sound of a snarl being mixed within. She could smell breath just faintly; and she almost gagged. This breath smelled worse than Kristoff's at the end of the day. " _I mean, where Mowgli is."_

 _"In good time,_ _Akela. He can't be far from here...that much should be true. "_ She heard a slow and soft padding, as if something on paws was walking just past her head. _" Have ever seen a more peculiar...well,her?"_

 _"No. She is not from the jungle obviously. I've never heard tale of their kind with looks such as this. Her fur is the only yellow fur I've seen in my life. Not to mention she smells...terrible."_

And with that true remark, Elsa pouted just as her eyes opened just slightly. Her body instinctively moved backwards with aid of her hands and feet when she saw the owners of the voices: namely one shaggy furred wolf and one large panther. They too reacted instinctively by lowering their heads in their direction and baring their teeth. The glint of the sun didn't show on their canines, but instead illuminated how pointy they were. The woman gulped.

Thanks to her eyes darting around for any method of escape, Elsa realized that she was in a large cave made entirely of dirt it seemed. In a crudely humorous way there bones scattered around the room like decorations for a regular home would, adding another scary tone to the room. The panther and the wolf were blocking the only exit she could see; their bodies almost silhouettes from the sun outside the cave. It was odd enough that they could indeed speak, and Now they were...standing next to each other? cats and Dogs usually battle each other and don't unite to trap helpless Queens in caves.

"...I..." The woman began, and bit her bottom lip. She was going to talk with ANIMALS. "...Where a-am I?"

" _You're mistaken."_ The panther declared lowly, padding forward just once. " _We'll be asking you questions. You will-"_

Spontaneously, her arms shot into the air just before currents of blue spewed from her palms. The surge of wind mixed with chilling snowflake twirled menacingly in front of the two animals. They took a step back and stared at the display of power with curiosity and a twinge of worry. Satisfied(and ashamed) of her show of strength, Elsa sucked the currents of blue air back into her palms as slowly as they had come. She inhaled through her nose, and exhaled loudly. "I am...I'm calm right now. And I've been taken to...wherever here is...and I'm talking to carnivorous animals."

A bit confused, the wolf and the panther exchanged wary glances.

"You...er, Y-You can tear me apart like I'm just some flimsy thing...And I can, e-even if I really don't w-want to, just give you both the frostbite of your lives..." Elsa closed her eyes briefly, swallowing and feeling as if her heart might explode. "Can w-we just talk for a sec? you know, in a non hostile way? You both look intelligent...not that I didn't think you were before..."

The wolf narrowed his eyes, fur still bristling in hostility. "U _nless talking means you bringing back Mowgli, Then I will simply settle for tearing you apart."_

Elsa completely missed the threat; her face scrunched with confusion. "Who is Mowgli? Is he a relative of yours?"

" _...You really don't know who Mowgli is...?"_ The stoic panther seemed to be staring into her soul. The hostile stance was lost as he seemed to realize something. The wolf seemed to realize what his friend knew, yet he seemed angry to know it.

The animals received a suspicious stare. "No, Should I?"

The wolf growled softly, the way an irritated person would growl at bad luck. " _Mowgli is more lost than he was to begin with."_

 _"We will still find him, Akela." The Panther encouraged him strongly. "Eventually, we will find him."_

"That's great!" Elsa herself was surprised at her sarcastic tone, so she kept it light. "Maybe it'd be faster finding him if youuuu...told me a bit about where I am and who you are?"

The two predators frowned at each other, the whiskers drooping briefly with their expressions. She watched at the panther moved his body back calmly, until he was sitting on his haunches the way a house cat would. His yellow eyes were half lidded, and focused on her without much intensity. " _...My name is Bagheera. and you are in the Jungle."_

* * *

 **AAAAAAAAAAAND that's it! that is the first chapter! I can continue, but the next chapter might be after I see the movie. Wouldn't want to stray too far from that plotline.**


	2. Water Truce Begins

"What the-"

"AUGH!" The half naked kid shrieked and bolted to his left, skidding to a halt when he saw a random farmer pass by. He looked around with a mixture of surprise and horror at his surroundings, until he caught sight of Anna again. Anna narrowed her eyes at him; he seemed different than most Arendellian boys. The skin color and hair were darker than hers, which was only just a strange as the fact that he only had on red underwear. What kind of parents let their kid do this? What kind of parents let their kid appear randomly in places and..." Wait a minute! Elsa! Where did you put her?!"

Perhaps her language was different to him...If that was the case, Anna would have to explain that 'Where did you put her' didn't mean 'run away from me as fast as you can'.

"Hey! Kid! Stop running!" The princess chased him immediately, wincing at the pain felt at her feet from she tiny pebble she sprinted over. For a little kid, he was _fast_ and annoyingly fast at that. She may have been several feet taller than him but he seemed to make up for height in speed AND parkour; he leaped over tied goats dodged thick cart wheels and even swung on some lady's braid briefly. Little show off.

He took a wild turn all of a sudden, causing Anna to trip over her own feet with a wild yelp. Once she got back and started after him again, the princess spotted a very familiar cart being hauled towards the two of them by a large reindeer. And guiding the reindeer was a very familiar and close person to Anna.

"It's Kristoff!" She told herself with a squeal...as least as much as she could between ragged breaths. "Hey, Kristoff! Run over that kid!"

It was a random thing she'd blurted out during her exhaustion(she'd never want a kid ran over, c'mon) and Kristoff's face twisted into confusion for a moment. Sven didn't have time to make a weird face as his muzzle was used as a springboard by the little boy. Somehow the kid leaped over the blonde boyfriend and scampered away behind the cart. Anna growled in frustration at the escaping kid.

"Anna, Look out!"

The princess realized she was still running straight at Sven and managed to slow herself until she stopped nose to nose with the reindeer. With a position like that, it was predicted by Anna that the reindeer would lick her face. Which he did gladly and soon smothered her freckled cheeks with drool. "..ew...hi to you too, Sven."

"Anna!" Kristoff hopped out of the sleigh and jogged the short distance over to her. "Are you alright?!"

The young woman's heart pumped furiously from within her chest, but the only sign of this happening was her skin turning red. Anna wasn't sure how a girl like her could be so flattered by his concern; she just was. "D'aw-Well! Yeah, I'm fine! Tee her! Totally chipper! Thanks for asking, Kristy poo!"

"Uh...Anna?"

"Yeeeeees?"

"You're doing the weird thing again." Kristoff informed her, giving her a strangely smug look. "That thing where you do the couple name...thing."

"Oh! Was I? Yikes...I,uh...sorry." Anna nervously laughed and composed herself. She could have a flirty attitude with Kristoff later, she had a little boy to catch. "Well, uh...I'm sure you wanna know why I was chasing a little kid in a bathing suit just a while ago."

He crossed his huge muscular arms, which entranced Anna for a sec. "That's right."

"Oh...wow. Uh, I mean- See, I was with Elsa and we went to a spa to get pedicures!" She pointed down at her bare feet and wiggled her toes. "And I thought she was going to be happy to get this cool color for her toenails, but she was all like:" Anna made a angry face. "I don't like you dragging me around everywhere! And then I said sorry, and then she forgave me and then we started to walk off! But then we saw this really cool shiny rock that said it could take us anywhere!" The woman paused and giggled a little. "Pfft! I mean, a SIGN said that the rock could take us anywhere! Buy Elsa picked it up, and then she was gone! But that little naked kid was there and he ran away and I chased him here! So now we gotta find him to get Elsa back!"

She inhaled.

"And now my feet hurt really, reeeally bad."

"Seriously?" The ice selling man frowned at her, absentmindedly rubbing a gloved thumb across her cheek. "Does it hurt too much? Do you need me to massage it? I'll do that if you want!"

Anna almost purred at his touched, but shook her head slightly and gave him an adoring smile. "You seem awful caring today, Ice guy!"

"For someone like you, Fiesty pants, I have to be!" He winced at his words. "Not that I'm saying anything bad about you! It's great to be as energetic as you! Really!...I guess I'm figuring out how best to be a...courter?"

"Courter is such a weird word for boyfriend." Anna hugged his arm softly, her smile never leaving. "But anyways, you're doing fine at it if you ask me. And if you really wanna be helpful and caring, maybe you help me set a trap for this kid?"

"Set a trap? Haven't you tried reasoning with him?"

"I asked him where Elsa was and he ran away."

"Close enough. Yeah, I'll help. I can't say no to you without you trying to whine about it."

"Oh shut up, kiss me and carry me back to Arendelle. We've got a sister to find and a brat to catch!"

Some time after they'd gotten into the cart, a strong wave of worry washed over her heart. Kristoff noticed this almost immediately when she frowned into space. He got Sven moving towards the castle before he looked back over at Anna. "Is something up, Fiesty pants?"

"I'm just remembering...that kid. He looked like he wasn't Arendellian." The princess stared at him. "I think I once read a book on different cultures from around the world. Some live in the jungle..."

"Yeah?"

"And some of them wear...underwear just like that! Maybe their skin color is the same too?!" Anna nervously but her fingernails. "What if Elsa got taken to some animal-infested JUNGLE?!"

"Ha!" Kristoff laughed, although it was evident he was worried too. "Elsa in the jungle? Now that's funny."

* * *

"...and if this works the same as it did before..." Elsa curiously said aloud to Akela, Bagheera and a wolf she'd known to be called Raksha. She was the adoptive mother of the boy that she'd apparently switched places with upon touching the rock. She was also quite cautious and worried for this 'Mowgli'. "Then this...rock; If we both touch it at the same time again, I believe that we can both switch our places back to where we truly belong."

Bagheera, resting on his belly, briefly looked down towards the rock at his paws and snorted. " _So Mowgli is currently in your world?_ "

Elsa nodded slowly. Akela sighed through his nose, paws shifting in the dirt like an anxious parent. " _Isn't there something we can do to bring him back sooner?_ "

"I really thought about it...But right now the only logical option here is for us both to touch it, and right now it doesn't look like Mowgli's touched it at all. If he really has lived without being near a single human his whole life, he must be...frightened...and probably far from the rock, since he doesn't understand it."

The softest of whines rang out from Raksha's throat, just before the female wolf abruptly left the den out of sight. Elsa cringed inwardly; in a way, it was her fault that the child of two parents was suddenly gone and had little chance of getting back. Human or not, they apparently loved this little boy dearly, even the panther seemed a bit distraught over this.

"I...I-Im sorry. I should never have touched that rock." Elsa apologized and offered the smooth stone a bitter stare.

" _...You were curious about an object that you'd never seen before._ " Akela's ear flicked away a persistent fly. " _So was Mowgli. Let's be thankful that there is still a chance for his return."_

The woman nodded reluctantly at this, and turned her gaze to the day before her outside. They were near a watering hole of some kind that was filling up rather fast, and the whole area itself was below the waterfall of a jungle edge. "...I...I need to go outside for a moment, please."

She left through the opening of the den and walked to the edge of the water, judging it's safeness to drink before sipping some. After downing the refreshing liquid, Elsa scanned the rocky outcroppings surrounding the watering hole and spotted Raksha lying on a very tall plateau-like boulder on the beach. Her eyes were somber and sad as expected, prompting Elsa to timidly walk over to the wolf. Aside from a brief snort, Raksha gave no acknowledgement to her presence.

"I...I got your name, but I don't think I've given you mine."The Snow Queen almost held out her hand to shake with her, but stopped at the last second. "I-Im Elsa."

Raksha didn't even look at her.

Elsa's lips slowly dropped the smile while she wrung her hands nervously. "...So,um...I realize that you want nothing more than your son back right now... I understand how, er-painful that can be for a mother-"

"You have no children." There was an underlying growl in her sentence. "I know the scent of a mother. You have no idea what I'm feeling."

"Yes, I don't have any children of my own...yet." Elsa explained. "But I do have a little sister. I once felt that I had to leave her behind to keep her safe...but I missed her so dearly. When I did go to look for her, if I were to ever find her where I was going...I would've been so happy. But during that time I felt like...like screaming or just slapping myself because of how stupid I was before..."

She paused.

"Okay, you actually didn't have any part in your son's disappearance, so you're not blaming yourself. But the fact is, we both miss people closeto us. I miss my sister so much...just as much as you miss your son."

When she didn't respond, the human decided not to stay there for too much longer. Just as she turned to leave however, a voice made her stop.

"You found your sister...didn't you?"

Else looked down at the ground and gasped when she saw eight puppies eagerly gathered around her bare feet, looking up at her with interested gazes and impatiently wagging tails. Elsa glanced up at Raksha, who was ironically staring at her as if to say, _go on._

"y-yes. We eventually found each other and reconciled..."

"Why were you running away in the first place?" One pup spoke up. "My sister Jade is super annoying, but I haven't run away yet!"

A female pup far to his left barked at him. "Shut up, Aktan!"

Then they quieted down and stared up again.

"Well..."

Elsa trailed off into worry, wondering how terrible the reaction would be if she decided to show her powers off to the wolf pups near Raksha. Still, perhaps she could explain that they weren't dangerous if the mother became hostile? Her hands slowly rotated around each other and an icy mist formed around her delicate fingers, the cloud of white growing quickly. The pups made a united sound of awe at her ability, almost standing on their hind legs to get a better look. Before Elsa squatted to make things better for their sight, she glanced up their mother. Raksha seemed cautious, but ultimately intrigued by her.

"I accidentally hit my sister with magic when we were both young. She's forgiven me since then, of course." The cloud condensed into a solid snowball above them, before it exploded into a tiny snowfall onto their heads. The pups squealed when the snowflakes landed on their heads, some of them trying to eat the frozen water shapes and other batting at it with her paws. When looked up, grinning widely at the reaction, she was happy to see the one thing she'd been aiming for.

Raksha smiling.

* * *

"The Water Truce?"

Raksha nodded her head as she slowly padded alongside a stone-carrying Elsa, heading towards the wide expanse of intelligent animals gathering around the once tiny pond. There were birds of all sorts of colors, even those that she didn't know to exist, that flocked and fluttered over or around the water. Small furry creatures scampered between the legs of rhinoceroses and the occasional hippopotamus that lumbered by briskly. Ocelots were cautiously watched by birds and a few of the rodents that were nearby, the wolves were regard respectfully by the prey they usually hunted and the one crocodile that did arrive had everyone cautious...except for brave little birds that cleaned his teeth.

"It is an old truce, yet it stills runs today. Water is scarce in this jungle, Elsa and so everyone wants it. Our truce makes sure that these waters don't turn foul with blood from a fight or from some predator hunting. Here, we share and have at least of day of peace with each other." The wolf mother explained, her eyes regarding her cubs bothering an old buffalo.

"I see. That's why you brought me out here without hesitation. They won't attack me on such a day if..if they don't like me."

"There's nothing not to like about you, as far as I can tell. The only thing I find myself unsure about are your...abilities, as you say."

Elsa nodded in response and made a mental note to keep her powers under wraps for the time being. She didn't like the idea of concealing; not after promising never to conceal again, but here it was necessary.

"Well..." Raksha turned as if she were going to trot off towards her cubs, looking back at the blonde woman. "I'm going to go over here. I'll leave to explore a bit if you don't wish to follow me."

After acknowledgement was given to her statement, the wolf padded down the crowded banks and barked in annoyance with her children. Elsa smirked to contain a chuckle before turning to walk in the general direction of a small plateau like boulder just past the shore. But her foot came into contact with a furry body, and she gasped in surprise.

"Sorry, Missess Elsa." Grey the wolf cub smiled up at her hopefully. She recalled meeting the runt of the cub litter just yesterday, who shared a lot of personality traits with the queen. For one, he was quiet like her, most of the time. "Could I follow you?"

Elsa knew she couldn't say no to those liquid eyes of his. "She began to walk towards the crowd, aiming to get through it to get to the plateau. "It's Miss Elsa, Grey. And of course you can come along."

He barked happily and scampered after her, which coaxed a giggle out of her. The woman began to dodge a small family of ducks waddling past, before squeaking as an anteater slurped up ants that crawled too close to her feet. She grunted in pain when something sharp jabbed her calf..which just so happened to be a porcupine accidentally wandering into her. It looked at her as if he'd poured paint in her hair. "Oh, I am so sorry about that..."

"Ow..." She hopped on one leg and rubbed her leg gingerly through the slit in her dress. "That's okay. I'll be fine, thanks."

"You sure?" He questioned as she created distance between them. "I can pee on it if you want?"

"...It'll heal soon enough! But thanks!" Elsa politely responded and hurried away from the area, Grey following her silently.

The two of them passed by every drinking and wandering animal they knew to live in the jungle, beasts like giant peacocks, armored Pangolins, Asiatic Gorillas, small Red pandas, Hog deer, Woolly yaks, scampering Mongoose, a few wild cattle and a handful of rodents that The Queen couldn't recognize from any animal book back in Arendelle. She found herself getting closer to the plateau-like boulder Raksha used just yesterday, and traversed past two Rhinoceroses drinking from the shore. The younger of the two glanced at the human woman from the corner of her vision, and then to the older Rhino. "What is that, dad?"

"...It is man." She heard the animal snort back. " At least, the female kind."

A bird perched on the Rhino's horn cocked it's head. "What is man doing here?"

Elsa fought the instinct to glance back at the trio, instead blushing timidly from their suspicious voices and walking faster. She climbed up the plateau once she reached it and after aiding Grey in getting up, sat with her calves dangling over the edge of the boulder. Her eyes took in the peculiar and peaceful sight of all the animals drinking calmly from the water's edge. No prey stood disturbed next to the predator, and the predator gave no glance with harmful intent. The woman became thirsty herself after seeing them drink for a few minutes. With a flick of her and the sound of tiny crystals meshing together, she created a floating wine glass made entirely out of ice. Sure, A wine glass in the middle of the jungle was less than fashionable, but no one with fashion sense was around to see her anyways. Not to mention that the water looked all the more appetizing in the wine glass.

Grey excitedly pawed at her braid just as she was about to take a sip. "How'd you get your fur like this, Miss Elsa?"

"Well..." She wasn't too sure how to explain the workings of a braid. " just...sort of moved parts of my hair into various places. then I just tied it."

She snorted out a laugh when Grey gave her the most pitiful, confused look ever. As always, his expressions had a tinge of adorableness in them.

"Elsa?" She recognized the voice as Akela's. The blonde turned her head to look at the wolf leader approaching, but not before taking a quick sip. "I believe I expressed that human tools are...not common in these lands, and are disturbing to many."

Cheeks still bulged with water, Elsa looked back at the animals below her, quite flustered to find that all of them were staring at her suspiciously. She swallowed quickly , muttered out a short apology and without thinking tossed the cup into the air. It's vanishing into a cloud of ice particles sent a loud gasp through the gathering of beasts. Elsa cringed even more than before. The entire lake seemed quiet,everyone acting as if they were holding their breath...

"...Do that again!"

She blinked thrice. A small bird on the back of a water buffalo had squawked out the command to her, shortly followed by the Buffalo grunting: "Yeah? What was that, anyway?"

Before she could even think to make a response, the rest of the animals pitched in their statements of approval and encouragement. Elsa was quite astounded by their reaction; She'd expected them to be a bit more fearful of her. Then again, she expected Anna to be fearful of her when powers were revealed and things turned out fine.

Inhaling through her nostrils and smiling slightly, a gust of cold wind carried sparkling ice through the air. The light glinted off of it like some the prisms created by Arendelle's scientists. The light filtered through the faces of the crystals and glowed every different color imaginable. The animals voiced their sounds of interest and approval, causing Elsa to blush a little and look back at Akela. The wolf still seemed skeptical of her decision to reveal her abilities, but also seemed amused.

Then a single, earsplitting roar rang out.


	3. Water Truce Ends

_A_ _Bengal tiger should not be that large._

Elsa's mind seemed stuck on that horrifying truth when she laid eyes on the silhouette of just such a creature, standing in a sanguinary manner on the highest outcropping that edged the beach. When her vision adjusted to the sunlight just enough, she could see the animal's oversized form more clearly. It looked as if it could stand at the height of her chin while on all fours, had the ragged pattern of orange/black and had a large head to go with it all. It was very hard for this to occur with it's back to the sun, but bloodstained teeth glinted occasionally.

She heard a growl behind her back. "Elsa, Get behind me."

The woman hurriedly scooped up Grey and the stone, placed them both on the ground and promptly rushed behind Akela as instructed. Thanks to the short height of the rock he was standing on, she ended up half kneeling and half lying down on her belly. She grimaced at seeing her braid flop onto the dirt ground, but figured that she could worry about such issues later.

The Tiger, during all of this, bounded down from the high rocks on his stocky paws and yet didn't make a single sound while doing so. The other animals noticeably inched away from the bank when the tiger neared the beach, which gave him twenty feet of space on either side when he bent down to drink. His tongue calmly scooped up small amounts of water, and she began to see how eerily confident he was while drinking. His stance seemed satisfied with the fear of the animals; pleased that he didn't need to roar to assert himself. Bagheera, the closest animal to the tiger's size, seemed extremely nervous.

The orange and black feline drank his fill and slowly padded along the beach while others critters quickly got out of his way. This was when he spoke: in his baritone and expected sinister voice. "... **It's so nice to be around all the familiar faces...all the denizens of the jungle.** "

His paws flexed as he walked, briefly flashing natural daggers from his toes. " **But I can't help but notice there's this** ** _strange_** **odor today..."**

Elsa swallowed quietly. She really needed a shower after all.

" **What** ** _is_** **it...this scent that I'm on? I was almost...I was thinking it was some kind of..."** He conveyed almost innocently, as if he was speaking as a friend. His head gradually turned right in _her_ direction; her exact spot. The stare he gave was just bloodthirsty enough to give some who usually wasn't bothered by cold a shiver. " **Human."**

 **"** Elsa belongs my pack for the time being, Shere Khan." Akela boldly glared across the short distance of water.

" **Elsa? So it has a name...?** **Interesting.** " With a quick lick of his chops and a flick of his ear, he paced the banks yet again. " **Tell me, when are we going to allow Man to come rolling in, Hmm? Perhaps invite their violent ways over as well?"**

Elsa had finally mustered up enough courage to speak, especially at the mention of harmful humans. Surely she could explain that she wasn't a bad person? "I-"

"She is harmless." Akela interrupted. "She can barely swat a fly without feeling terrible about it."

The Tiger snarled lowly and turned his gaze to the wolf leader. Somehow this angle made the tiger's face more apparent, and she noticed for the first time that he had scars at various spots on his face. A huge gash ran across his left eye, and it looked blind. " **Does my face not remind you of what** ** _they_** **can do...?"**

Then Shere Khan glanced around.

"... **Leave the hunting grounds for a few years and everyone forgets how it all works...Let me remind you: She is of man's kind, and their kind are a threat to us...So _man_ is ****FORBIDDEN!** **"** He thundered savagely and startled even the crocodile. Turning a cold stare on the hiding woman, he bared his ugly fangs once more. "... **And I want her** ** _dead_** **."**

"...Over my dead body." Raksha suddenly appeared next to her, baring her own sharpened teeth while her cubs retreated behind her hiding place. "You may be able to take any lives you want as arrogantly as you can be, but you won't have her! "

Elsa barely registered Shere Khan growling at the wolf, since she was too busy thinking about her words. She was willing to fight that beast to protect her? It could be that Elsa was the only chance at getting their 'son' back, and not just to save her life right? Or perhaps things were truly personal between the woman and the wolf pack? And what could she herself do about this problem? Elsa considered using her ability to her and the pack's defense, but knew that it was out of the question. She'd lost control on two men before and actually killed her sister once. She didn't want to kill anything else, not even this threatening feline. She would hopefully never have to cross such a line in her life... _However,_ she was all for trying a little intimidation. What girl didn't?

" **I believe that can be arra-"**

The lake froze over suddenly to gain the attention of Shere Khan, who reared back in pure surprise. Despite the warning tone of Akela, Elsa stood to her feet and actually stalked over to the edge of the frozen water. All breaths seemed to hitch when she stared directly at the tiger, who could've killed a bird with the glare he was offering her. This made her heart hammer loudly from her chest, but it was not enough to change her stoic expression.

She was officially in Queen mode.

"I beg your pardon, Shere Khan...Was it?" She asked hypothetically and noted how his expression seemed angrily shocked. "You seem like a...tiger who respects many things, am I correct?"

Shere Khan's ear flicked away a fly. " **...Hmm.** "

"I'll take that as a yes. In that case, I'll also assume that you're knowledgeable. That you know of The water truce and who rules this part of the Jungle: the wolves behind me." Elsa raised an eyebrow and ,for effect, placed her hands on her hips. " i'm certain you don't mean to come here making threats to them on...such a day of _peace_."

There was silence for at least half a minute, a time period where no one moved a muscle. But eventually the big cat's tensed shoulders relaxed and he seemed...impressed, in a way? He bowed his head slightly.

" **No, I am completely respectful of these laws that keep us safe..."**

 _Phew._ Elsa's shoulder's relaxed as well. _Gee Elsa, I guess you've still got it._

" **...So here is my promise. "** The Tiger continued, and Elsa's rising smirk fell into a worried frown. His gaze briefly turned to the tip of a boulder barely submerged in the water. " _ **Nothing last forever.**_ **The rains WILL return, and the river will rise. And when this rock disappears, My dear...this truce will end. "**

Shere Khan raised his voice a bit more, not that the wolves already couldn't hear him. " **Then you will be left with one question...** "

He left the area all together soon after saying his question and the lake fell back into drinking peacefully, yet there was silent sense of dread in the air. The ones who felt the dread the most wee all members of the wolf pack and especially Elsa. It would be hours since Shere khan's appearance, but his voice would be in her head as if were still there.

 _ **How many lives are worth giving for her?**_

* * *

The pack's argument raged for days on end, barely breaking to provide themselves sustenance. Elsa's guilt seemed as terrible as the storm that had come just after the beginning of the water truce. Sheets and soon blankets of fresh rain spilled all over the once sparsely dry lands, flowing eagerly into the shallow lake and turning it into a miniature ocean several feet deep. The woman sat on a rock and watched the highest rock slowly sink into the water, completely soaked by the rain. But it was no matter to her; her ice dress would soak in the water from her body as other ice particles melted and the cold didn't bother her anyways. If anything, she felt it was her mouth that bothered her.

She just had to try and help the situation reach a peaceful end...She just had to butt into things. Things might have ended a little differently if she'd have just stayed quiet and now she had a tiger not only out for her blood but possibly the pack's blood as well! Yet again she'd involved other lives into problems of her own; problems that could potentially kill. Even now she had family members arguing over her own fate and the fate of their cubs. All of it was her fault. In a way it was strange that she was feeling so deeply for the jungle's denizens, as they were animals and not people. But there's was an understanding that Elsa had grown into rapidly...was this a side effect of the stone? Were some of Mowgli's personality traits rubbing off on her?

Elsa swallowed deeply; fighting back her tears was difficult but she had to convince herself. What would crying do for her here? Nothing. No one would console her and shedding tears wouldn't have that stupid Tiger running back asking to be friends all of a sudden.

"Miss Elsa?" She felt Grey nudge her elbow and she almost told him to go away. Almost." Are you sad?"

She brushed wet strands of hair from her face to look at the wolf pup, who sat beside her worriedly. "No, I...Maybe a little, yes...D-Don't you have a game to play with your brothers and sisters?"

Grey looked up at her with liquid eyes. "Whenever I'm sad, Mom comes and sits next to me. It helped me, so I thought it might help you."

Elsa couldn't help it; she sighed through her nose and gently scratched him behind his pointed ears. "That was really sweet of you, Grey. I feel better already."

He gave a happy bark at this, which earned a small grin from her. Before anything else could be said, she heard a shout from the place where the meeting was held; On the large plateau above the den, the argument had reached new levels. While her eyes focused in on the argument with a sudden determination, she heard Grey speak below her. "...What do you think they're talking about?'

"...Me. They're talking about me...But not for long."

"Elsa?"

The woman had begun to walk off towards the meeting of wolves, stopping only to sadly smile at the pup. "Don't worry. You and your family will be safe soon."

The shouting voices and barks became more apparent as her bare feet drew her closer to them, only adding to her regret. Once the rise up the plateau began, she observed Bagheera's form lying perfectly balanced on a tree branch. He looked down and met her eyes with a solemn and silence exchange of planning, before the panther nodded and began to lower himself from the tree. Meanwhile, the sounds of the argument were so close that she could hear specific quotes from them even now.

"We can't possibly keep him here!"

"We are strong enough to fight!"

"Look at the sky! Shere Khan may be on his way here right now."

" _I'm leaving."_

"Well, I..."

The entire pack trailed off into silence and turned to stare at her, all of them shocked with her sudden appearance. Akela and Raksha had a hint of fear in their faces, especially the latter. Elsa stopped in front of them all, licking her lips before continuing. "I...I am so, _so_ grateful for all of you letting me stay here with you for as long as this, not including the chance of Mowgli coming back through me...But I will not let anyone be killed because of my words and because of me staying here. I don't where I'll go, but I am going today."

No one spoke for the first few moments, but that was all the time it took for Bagheera to climb onto a rock and look over everyone. "Elsa is right. She must leave and ultimately Mowgli must go with her...to a new people to protect them."

Raksha whined softly. "No..."

"I'm the one who brought Mowgli to you, and now I will make sure that they both will make it to their homes safely." Bagheera sounded almost sad as Raksha about the situation. She didn't know much about him, but she knew that he would miss the boy. " Mowgli will be in the man village when he comes back, because that is where i am taking Elsa.'

"I won't let you!" Raksha snarled and leaped in front of Elsa protectively. Akela looked ready to bound down towards her. "Mowgli is my cub! When he comes back, he will be right here with me because he's my cub!"

"We knew this day would come."

"B-But...we are the only that he's ever known!"

"Raksha..." Akela sorrowfully told her. "It's the only place either of them will be safe."

Raksha looked up at Elsa, downcast when the woman touched her fur gently. Her blue eyes looked as if they were filled with tears just like her own. "I'm sorry...I have a feeling if Mowgli were here wouldn't like this either...But with such a great mother like you...he knows what the right to do is...I'm sure there will be someway you can see each other again."

The mother wolf's ears drooped glumly, but she still looked up at Elsa. "...you...y-you keep yourself s-safe, Elsa...keep yourself safe."

The gazed cheerlessly at each for a moment or four more, but the woman slowly parted from her and ,even slower, walked up to Bagheera. She and the panther made their way down from the plateau with a few glances back at the pack, each glance receiving a glance in return. It wasn't until the two of them ventured so far out that the home of the wolves was a mere speck in the distance that silence was broken between them. "I wish I could tell you that the wolves could've fought Shere Khan off..."

Elsa folded her hands in front of herself without a sound.

* * *

 **Oooh! Looks like things are getting personal here! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! The next one should be extra long.**


	4. Stampedes, Sleep & Snakes

The morning arrived quickly for our protagonists, who had managed to sleep through the night in a tree. Elsa wasn't sure what to say of the whole thing; the bark was rather rough and the occasional sound kept her awake. She managed to get a few hours of dozing in at least, and was now walking alongside bagheera through the area of the jungle where the trees seemed taller. Almost in the shape of redwood trees as well.

"...Has Shere Khan always despised humans?" Elsa eventually broke the silence.

"He has. They were the result of his scars. "Bagheera answered. "But he probably hates you a little more for standing up to him. You were brave."

"Oh...thanks."

"Bravery can get one killed, however. A problem you won't have to worry about for much longer. Only man can protect you now."

Elsa nodded in agreement, wondering what language those people would speak and if she would recognize it. "Uh...Have you ever been to this Man Village? Not like, inside it or anything. But do you know how the people there are act? Hostile or good?"

"...somewhere in between I'd say. "

"Oh...Do they look anything like me?"

"Hmm...perhaps a darker skin tone. Not much else."

"Oh."

"Wait." Bagheera suddenly stopped, his head turned to the far left of himself. Approaching slowly was a line of simply humongous elephants, all grey in skin and trunks swaying dramatically. The biggest was stationed in the front, leading them almost like some kind of general or...colonel. The panther bowed low to the ground. " Bow your head."

"Excuse me?"

"At least do it a little. Show them respect."

Singing, Elsa bent over slightly, eyes to the ground and watching Bagheera do a more detailed bow to the passing line of elephants. They all thundered past the two of them without worry or hostility, barely giving them a glance in their travels. A small, young elephant blew it's trunk at Elsa and rattled her braid, making the woman try not to laugh.

"The Elephants created this jungle...Where they made furrows with their tusks the rivers ran rapidly...Where they blew their trunks the leaves fell and became grass. They made what you see: the rivers, the trees, the birds in the trees...many of the jungle wouldn't be here if not for their tireless work."

Elsa glanced at the panther. She wanted to point out that an elephant creating a bird was next to impossible and that it would millennia to create a whole jungle through pachyderms, but because of his request she kept silent. She'd respect these noble looking creatures, the ones that were walking off into the far distance.

Even if she wasn't given respect here, she would offer it without question.

* * *

"And then there's Olaf, who's a snowman...you see, a snowman is kind of like a person like me but made of snow." Elsa explained while she and her companion ventured into the grasslands of the jungle without any aim to disturb the plat eaters there. That didn't mean that none of them snorted in their direction as warning, and the woman briefly wondered if any if them could gore her with their horns. "My sister and I made him once when we were little. "

"I see. And what of Kristoff? The one you mentioned earlier."

"Krisroff? Oh. I think he's an idiot. But Anna doesn't think so, so maybe I'm wrong."

"Hmm. You quite the family. "Bagheera noted aloud, yet soon seemed distracted by something in the distance.

"Yes, they're a pretty loving family. I can see Anna now : Tearing Arendelle apart to look for me...yikes. That is not a very comforting thought at all-"

"Down."

The Snow Queen froze midwalk and mid high grass, staring at the panther over her shoulder with worry. "What is it? Is it a bug? Get it off."

Bagheera's paws flexed and his claws revealed themselves in anticipation for something. "When i say so, you will run to the ravine ahead of you. I'll catch up with you later by tracking your scent."

Elsa narrowed her eyes at him. "Okay, I know the bug isn't that big-"

" **gRAAAAAAAAUGH!** "

Elsa head whipped around in time to barely glimpse a blur of orange,black and teeth leaping at her with a vibrating roar. She fell back on instinct, only to notice that a black blur slammed the first into the ground and opened it's jaws towards her. "Run!"

Reluctantly, Elsa followed his orders and began to run as fast as she could away from Shere Khan and Bagheera. While she dared not to look back, her ears could detect sounds of snarling and snapping of claws or teeth and heavy thuds on the ground. She heard Bagheera weakly tell her to run again and worry made her look behind herself. Bagheera hadn't won the fight and was getting to his paws slowly, while the Tiger was racing after her at a bloodthirsty speed.

 _C'Mon, Elsa! You ran up a mountain, you can outrun a tiger just long enough!_ The woman told her self in her mind, lungs aching too much to try talking to herself. The sounds of the tiger neared, so she fired a few burst of ice without aiming, hoping to at least slow him down. It only sounded as if he were right on her heels and about to pounce...

There was a heavy thud and several more footsteps, making her look back to see the huge herd of water buffalo had stampeded across the tiger's path. Shere Khan roared furiously at being blocked from his prey, but was all she could see before she fell head first down the ravine, screaming loudly. She rolled down the cliff side which was thankfully a muddy slope, and stopped face up in a small puddle of murky water.

"Ewwwww..." She was momentarily distracted by the sight of her blonde braid partially drenched with mud, and quickly stood to her feet. It seemed her dress, toenails and feet had mud to be dealt with too.

The rumbling footsteps were heard at her far left, so she quickly moved out of the way of the oncoming water buffalo and watched their giant bodies gallop past with flickers of mud flying up behind them. To top it off, Shere Khan skidded to a halt at the top of the ravine to try and search out exactly where the woman was, taking several seconds to locate an unfamiliar blue amongst the buffalo rushing past. He growled; Elsa knew he was going to wait till they all past before chasing her and she knew running in mud would be hopeless. She glared back at him, and then looked to her left to see a buffalo moving just slow enough...

She leaped and wrapped her arms around its neck, before forcing the rest of her body onto it's back. The buffalo didn't show any sign of dislike with this, making her wonder if they planned on helping her escape. The entire herd of no less than two hundred sped out of the ravine and into a plain, including the one she rode. They all ran at their fastest pace in order to dissuade any thought the tiger had of trying to chase them.

Judging from his less than happy roar far behind them, they did just that.

* * *

It was raining again, a little more than before too. Elsa found herself still on the back of the buffalo, who had introduced himself as Bogo and had turned out be rather kind indeed. She also found that all the Buffalo were walking in a single file line on the shortest cliff edge on the side of a mountain. And to boot, their tiny walking space was made of mud that looked ready to collapse at any second. This obviously worried the queen. "Um...are you all sure that this is safe?"

"Perfectly fine." Bogo responded with a snort, probably keep all the rainwater off his nose. "We've walked across the ledge for years now with no problem at all. A little rain shouldn't cause us much trouble."

"If you say so." Elsa relented and looked down at the stone in her hands, using her thumb to wipe off the excess mud to see it better. Mowgli hadn't touched the stone by now, as far as she knew, so it was the main reason that he wasn't here. A part of her wished he was here, but the other part didn't want a small boy thrown into this life threatening situation.

A few minutes later, she heard Bogo speak. "See that river down there?"

Elsa almost looked, but stopped herself. "I've been trying not to develop a fear of heights, thank you."

"Heh. Well just know that there's a river down there. We'll cross it eventually and drop you off at the part of the jungle on the other side. Bagheera should track your scent there."

"Okay." The woman agreed. There was a quiet sound above her so she looked up against the rain, towards the top of the slanted mountain. A few of the trees growing out on the side of it had shifted mysteriously, slowly angling downwards thanks to the shifting mud. Suddenly the trees fell out all together, followed by a tidal wave of mud and a few other trees that all came barreling down towards them. "HEY! LOOK OUT!"

The Buffalo all noticed the oncoming danger too late. The wave smashed down and flushed out the entire herd until they were all tumbling over and plummeting into the giant river below them. Elsa managed to keep her head above water after surfacing, staying away from flailing hooves and sharp rocks that jutted out. The woman still caught splashes of water and coughed violently to get it out. She thought a crocodile had brushed up against her for a moment, but it was merely a log: her temporary boat, that is.

Once afloat, she spotted the chaos of the water buffalo smashing against each other and worriedly bit her bottom lip. A wave of her hand constructed a giant sort of boat that had low sides and no sail, but would be enough to keep them out of the water if she could get them on. She noticed Bogo floating nearby her and got his attention, before pointing at the giant boat she'd made and making a slope for them to climb into the boat with. "Bogo! Get your herd on that boat!"

He bellowed soon after her command, and the other buffalo got onto the icy ship in an organized line, filling the vessel up with their weight but never sinking it. They would all at least be out of the frigid waters and avoid drowning in the river. It suddenly seemed that they were drifting away from the woman and onto the other side of a sudden fork in the river, causing her to look ahead of herself worriedly. She sure hoped this was where she was supposed to go.

* * *

Elsa pulled herself out of the river when she spotted land for the first time in a half hour and walked onto it's soggy beaches without hesitation. Her lungs had relaxed from the stress just earlier on her log, taking in fresh air from this oddly foggy place. It wasn't much longer after traveling inward enough to discover plant covered ground that she noticed how humid it was, and deemed that the fog was actually mist. The mist did little keep the heat away from her, because she began to sweat in a futile effort to keep herself from being overheated.

"This is disgusting..." The Snow Queen glanced at her slickened hands, finally conjuring up a small snow cloud above her own head just before a growl was heard. She leaped into a worried, defensive stance...only to realize that the growl was actually herself. She looked up at the trees now as she walked, searching for some kind of food item until noticing a familiar green color. Her magic winds brought down cold grapes that she messily devoured with caring; she was, after all, alone.

That is, until she discovered the snakeskin.

Her foot had kicked something almost rubbery in feel, so she picked up the object after seeing that it was covered in leaves. The Queen had dropped it as she soon saw what kind it animal it once belonged to and from seeing how _gigantic_ it was. It's width was as long as her hip to her knee and she didn't even try to think about how long it was. She just walked away from the area as fast as she could while trying to calm herself down.

It was ironic; her having a phobia of snakes at such a bad time. Past events in her life had lead to these fears manifesting in her, shaping her schedule to make sure she never encountered snakes. They were creepy little things to her, creatures that she thought made their prey feel warm and safe with silent, false words and then devoured them in a hiss when they least expected it. Oh, how she loathed snakes.

Eventually she'd walked so much that her feet ached from the effort and she thought briefly about sitting somewhere. But she couldn't sit, because she was now paranoid from the evidence of a huge reptile being nearby and waiting for someone just her size to happen by. The blonde saw that her fear was causing her hands to glow blue, and instinctively made her hands return to their normal hue.

Snap!

Elsa looked up, aiming her palms at whatever caused the tree branches to snap. Ironically, a pair of squirells leaped out of the tree and onto the ground before scurrying out of sight and leaving her to sight. Her chest was heaving with breaths, but seeing the squirrels had calmed her considerably. So when she wandered and the next snap was heard, she looked up expecting to find squirrels...but saw none. All she saw was something huge and tubelike in nature, only very flexible. Confused, she took a step to try and look closer at the thing concealed in the shade.

The sudden sqwuaking of birds made her turn away from the object, worried that such a large flock would be fleeing the trees so suddenly. Birds didn't go flying around just because someone like her wandered in. No, they did that only when a cat was nearby or some cases a...a...

Elsa took her snowcloud away and backed into the center of the small clearing, surrounded by crooked or curved trees all around her. Some parts didn't even look like trees. "...w-whos out there...?"

Nothing responded to her in this misty part of the jungle, not for several seconds.

"... _Hi, little one."_

She whirled around; the voice sounded like it was everywhere and she could pinpoint where it really was. It was definitely feminine, deeply sultry and...comforting? No, that couldn't be right. It was definitely creepy.

" _Oh no, don't be scared..."_ The voice sounded it really wasn't trying to alarm her. " _I'm not gonna hurt you...I was just curious...that's all."_

"Wh-who..." The blonde paused to swallow, still turning in hopes to locate where the voice was actually coming from. "Who are you...?"

Again, there was silence, but this time it was longer and Elsa was the first to break it nervously. "Look, I-I was just passing through...I-I don't want any trouble."

" _Trouble?There's no trouble here, little one..."_ Was the calm response, as if the voice were actually talking to a child and not an adult. " _Are you alone out here?That's not, good you know...We should Never be alone...especially not in the jungle."_

"My name is actually E-Elsa..." She frowned at the ignored question, but decided on answering the voice with a false answer. Whoever it was, didn't need to know that she was alone."And N-No...I'm waiting for a friend. He'll be here really soon."

Before she could think about how non-convincing she sounded, the voice gave it's comments.

" _Elsa...? That's such a pretty name...of course, I expected no less from a pretty little girl like you."_ The voice laughed with her mouth apparently closed, and goosebumps formed on The Queen's exposed shoulders. " _This doesn't look good for you...who knows what terrible thing could have preyed on you before I got here...You can stay with me if you want...would that be alright?"_

Finally, it seemed that the female voice had condensed itself one spot and Elsa reluctantly turned to see who it belong to. Lowering itself down from the dense canopy just twenty five feet away from her was the _biggest_ burmese python that she'd ever seen in her life. It's head was almost the size of the woman's body and it's scales were painted with glimmer scales of brown and black spots, with an underbelly of pale yellow. Giant green eyes with a slitted pupil stared eagerly at her, eyeing her form up and down with an imaginative glint. The snake's arm-long tounge slithered out it's mouth, possibly itching to taste Elsa's skin.

Elsa's entire body froze where it stood, mouth eyes wide even if no scream was heard from her. She was too scared to do anything; say anything about the stuff of her nightmares about approach her. Quiet whimpers escaped her throat, but they were too tiny to be noticed by the snake. Elsa's pupils shrank in pure fear, taking in the sight of the python reluctantly. She had pretty much forgotten her ice powers and even if she did remember them, would question how they would help her in such a predicament.

" _I'll keep you sssafe..."_ The voice was beginning to sound more seductive, and even in her worried state she couldn't ignore the feeling of butterflies in her belly. It was almost funny how something so terrifying to her could have such a trustworthy and beckoning voice. " _Jussst you and me...Ssssssweet little thing."_

Elsa's body had instinctively backed up, but her aching feet hit something heavy and scaley. She didnt need to look down to know what had blocked her path. Pleadingly, she stared at the snake, who had slowly touched the ground twenty three feet away from her. "W...W-Who a-are y-you...?"

Chuckling sinisterly at seeing her prey so frightened, The Burmese python opened her mouth and sighed out a single name: " _Kaaaaaaaaa_ _..."_

Elsa, at the worst possible time, felt light headed when the serpent exhaled her name. The weird feeling in her brain spread into the tiniest sense of security, as if the snake's sultry voice was...relaxing. Her heartbeat had slowed down slightly enough when she blinked to try clearing her head and her legs felt a little weaker, as if she were feeling heavier.

" _I know who you are, ssssweet...tassssssty Elsssa..."_ Kaa slithered across the ground with her head raised like a cobra, swaying her head slightly from side to side. The feeling returned to Elsa's head, and she felt some strange urge to watch the silent head movements of the snake. " _I know where you came from...I know about Mowgli, too...Word travels fassst in thisss jungle, hmm?"_

"No...P-p..." Elsa managed to say. Kaa drawing near with her soothing lisp hadn't entirely calmed the Snow Queen, who was now more certain than ever that she was going to eat her. It was all Elsa could to do refrain from breaking down into tears right then and there. "P-Please..."

" _Awww...What'sss the matter...?"_ Kaa tsked, her tail brushing the bangs from Elsa's forehead slowly. " _I told you I wasn't going to hurt you...I jusst wanted a clossser look at those big, beautiful blue eyes of yours..."_

The compliments didn't do crap to calm the blonde, but that didn't seem to be the aim of the snake. For Elsa soon noticed a strange phenomenon occurring in the huge oceans of green that were Kaa's giant eyes. The slitted pupils became a more vibrant black somehow, and huge ripples of color exploded through the rest of her eyes. The first ring in her left eye turned out to be a red with a yellow tiny to it; the color of soft tangerines that were ripe for the taking. The first ring of color in her right eye presented itself as a blueish purple that belonged to a sunset in summer and barely had other words to describe it's beauty. Many other rings of different hues and shades appeared and went away only appear again in an endless, captivating cycle.

The woman's expression was molded by confusion as more colors lazily shifted out of Kaa's eyes; one of her own eyes narrowed and the other still open to convey her confused thoughts about this gaze. Her thoughts were quickly numbed thanks to a sudden feeling of tiredness, as if it were way past her bedtime she was overdue for sleep. Her eyelids fluttered with the weight they now carried, her breaths seemed more even and her shoulders relaxed completely. Amidst such desires of slumber and dreams, her lips managed to form a question. "...m-my eyes...?"

" _Yessss...they're beautiful...Hypnotizing, one might ssay..._ " Kaa might have nodded, but Elsa was too busy admiring the soothing hues to be certain. A thin, foreign object slid along the skin of her left shoulder, across the back of her neck, around the other shoulder and across her collarbone. She might've been creped out by the feeling, but it was ignored for now. " _If you want, I could show you things you didn't know about Mowgli...they didn't show you much, did they?"_

The unknown object looped loosely around The Queen's slender neck, then gently gripped her slack jaw. It playfully caused Elsa's head to nod to the question, because answering on her own seemed impossible by this point. The thick coil that had prevented the woman from escaping began to wind around her ankles and brush the tops of her feet in doing so.

" _Very well. Lisssten closssely, little Elssssa...The men of this world are different from mostly stay in their village...but sometimes, they travel. "_ While Elsa very distantly felt her calves being bonded together, she began to envision different things as if she were actually standing in front of it. She saw a cave glowing from the inside with an orange illuminesence, and a man with a turban and robe-like clothes walking into the cave while the glow flickered and crackled. " _And when they do...their caves breathe in the dark...they call it: The Red Flower."_

After her hips had disappeared under the coil that was slowly trapping her, it began to slither around her waist. It tickled her stomach a little through the ice dress; Elsa giggled sleepily and she heard Kaa's chuckle herself. The snake continued while she trapped her prey's hands to her sides. The vision, meanwhile, presented the man sitting calmly before a large fire within the cave, glancing at a bundle seated safely nearby.

" _It brings warmth and light...yet destruction to all it touches...and this is the traveler, protecting his cub..."_

The man suddenly stood to his feet in the vision, for Shere Khan had stalked his way into the cave towards him. The man grabbed a torch and backed into the part of the cave farthest from his son, brandishing the torch to try and ward off the Tiger. Shere Khan snarled for what felt like minutes before finally leaping onto the man and killing him with a swift bite, only to flee when the falling torch burned his face and eye. Once the Tiger left, the little boy wandered out of the cave and noticed a pair of eyes stalking towards it.

" _The panther found the little cub...and brought him to the wolf pack to be raised. "_ The coil had trapped her ribs in it's comforting embracse and soon her chest as well, detecting her steady heartbeat as the woman breathed. In the vision, Bagheera slowed to a halt in front of the little boy. The child reached up gently, pressing into the big cat's nose and the panther looked down with a pitying look on the boy. "... _and that little boy...was Mowgli."_

Elsa's eyelids finally closed, but her head was held up by the coil gently wrapping around her neck by this point. Her blanket gave her entire body a hug, earning a small moan from the sleeping queen. The python smacked her jaws in satisfaction, her tounge disturbingly sliding against Elsa's cheek.

" _Poor, tasssty little sssnack..."_ Kaa relished the warm taste and wondered just how perfectly she could last on this meal. She was skinny yes, but with just enough flesh to satisfy her belly for months. " _You really want to leave thisss jungle...?"_

Not surprisingly, her prey murmured in her sleep. "Y-yes...I do..."

" _Then let go of your fears..."_ She commanded hungrily. "... _think of the one you love the mossst..."_

Kaa raised her humungous head above the helpless blonde, feeling the muscles in her jaws contract and lengthen painlessly. Rows of small yet razor sharp teeth appeared from her pink gums as the python eventually found a perfect psotion above her prey's head. Kaa's jaws opened as wide as they could possibly go, but not before giving one final suggestion to Elsa:

" _...and Trusssssssst in Meee... "_

* * *

 **You didn't read wrong viewers! I'm leaving this chapter exactly on a cliffhanger!**

 **I gave the Buffaloes a line or two(with a Zootopia rreference involved) and tinkered a teensy bit Kaa's, as you might have noticed. Which by the way, also relates to my other story: Ophidiophobia. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and leave a review!**

 **See ya next chapter!**


	5. A change of heart?

The end seemed high for the Queen indeed.

Kaa's jaws were inches from reaching the top of her head, her serpentine tounge already tasting her pale forehead. Elsa's body was trapped from chin to toe in binding coils that were almost as thick as tree trunks and constricting around her tightly. Even if she were conscious, it would be difficult to think of a way out in time. However, one of Kaa's commands before she opened her jaws had settled into the woman's sleep addled mind and one of her first thoughts was a certain smiling face. A certain smiling face with two red pigtails and the warmest hug anyone could give.

"...A...A-A..." The Queen murmured softly, nuzzling into scales. "...A-Ann...A..."

Kaa's was in the process of clamping her jaws around her prey's head when she heard the name and all progress stopped for a moment. She appeared to be mumbling the name of the one she loved the most, but how on earth did her thoughts get her to speak through the 'trust' Kaa's installed in her? This demanded investigation...besides, no one was around to interrupt her.

Kaa's mouth closed softly, before she lowered herself to eye level with the blonde . " _Anna you say...? Quite interessting. Tell me a little more about this Anna of yours, please?"_

"A-Anna's...my sister...I...I'm actually here because I...made sure she didn't come here..." Elsa responded, not able to remember the rock on the ground that she prevented her sister from touching. "She's everything to me...I-I hurt her once...but she forgave me after...*yawn*...after all those years..."

Kaa's smile had slowly fallen the moment she heard the word 'sister'. " _Years? You both were away for years?_ "

"Y-Yes...I came b-back to her only a...a month ago..." Elsa lips curled into a happy smile in her sleep. She was imagining walking with Anna while they both exchanged jokes or things about their day. "...I can't w-wait to get back to her...there's soooo much to make up f-for...after this tiny nap, of course..."

Kaa's was scowling by this point. Through obvious reasons, she was unable to open her jaws over the woman's head again. She was the one huge meal that she'd caught in a while and now she couldn't bring herself to eat it? Her Hunger wasn't stronger than morals? The snake sighed and looked begrudgingly upon the tasty, rather cold ex-snack.

"Wake up..." The sound wafted through the air awoke slowly from the gentle hiss, and eventually the spirals that once flowed endlessly through her mind dissapeared into nothing. With her gaze clear, Elsa blinked innumerously to clear the rest of her head of the dull hypnosis. "Ugh…"

The woman finally looked down, noticing her thin body was wrapped in the last thing she wanted to be even remotely near: Kaa's coils. With a loud gasp, she struggled for a moment and stared back at the female python with frightened blue eyes. "W-Whats happening?! W-Why am I…?"

Kaa sighed out a hiss, and lowered her head to Elsa's eye level. As much as the urge to see her eyes burst into colors again began to grow, the snake had a hold on herself so to speak. "If we're being painfully obvious, I was about to sssswallow you whole."

At that statement, Elsa's jaw dropped just enough to be as large as her eyes. Her eyebrows were slanted upwards, as if she were somehow shocked and saddened by this. She made a slight sound, then a loud whimper, then a sniffle while tears started flowing down the woman's cheeks. As she began to sob, Kaa frowned in a bit of sympathy and opened her mouth to begin an apology.

""WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGHAAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Elsa suddenly sobbed louder and startled the python, who almost hit herself with a coil. The woman sniffled, hyperventilated for a full eight seconds and then started to speak while sobbing. "NNNNNOOOOOOOOHOHHHHOOOOOOOO! PLEASE DON'T EAT MEEEEE! I DON'T WANNA BE EATEEEEEEEN! WAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

flinching from the volume powering Elsa's nasally tone, Kaa decided to stop her crying. "You didn't let me finish! You don't un-"

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT I GOT THROWN IN A JUNGLE! *Sob* I DIDN'T WANT THIIIIIIIIIIS! I JUST WANTED TO STAY HOME AND BUILD SNOWMEN WITH MY SISTER AND PLAY AND EAT CHOCOLATE AND WATCH HER GROW UP! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE HER BRIDESMAID WHEN SHE MARRIES KRISTOOOOOOOFF!"

"I'm trying to explain-"

"I WANNA SEE HER CHILDREN GROW UP SO I CAN PLAY WITH THEM LIKE AN AUNT SHOOOULD!" Elsa continued to blubber pitifully, mascara running down her cheeks. "I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF I'LL GET MARRIED TO A REALLY HOT GUY AND HAVE KIDS TOO! PLEEEEEEASE DON'T EAT MEEEEEEE! I DONT WANNA DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA…"

Kaa offered her a sizeable blank stare. "Are you done?"

"*sniffle* Y-Yes…"

"Good. I'm not going to eat you to begin with."

"REALLY?!" Elsa's face brightened immediately, but slowly turned suspicious. "Wait...Why exactly didn't you...?"

"Oh I'm sorry, did I disappoint you?" The serpent narrowed her eyes, and the blonde leaned her head far back worriedly.

"N-No! Not a-at all! Really!"

"Thatsss what I thought...My reasons are mine and mine alone. Jusst know that you are lucky thisss time, little Elsssa."

Elsa nodded reluctantly and squirmed against the coils. They eventually unwrapped her body and gave her limbs free space to move. Oddly enough, she felt completely relaxed; as if it had been the best sleep of her life. Weird. "Um...okay then...?"

Kaa blinked. "Okay what?"

"I...er..." Elsa formed a straight line with her lips, picking up the stone once more and starting to inch away. "Nothing...um...you're not going to change your mind...as soon as I turn my back, are you?"

"Your taste is tempting me to do just that."

Elsa cringed an entire two feet backwards at that statement. That was just creepy enough to have her walk away quickly from the area and anything that looked like a snake's coils. She did look back at Kaa's, however, and noted the odd look of sympathy and slight envy in her face. It only made her wonder all the more why she wasn't eaten by now.

"Well?"

Elsa blinked a few times, and picked up the stone slowly. She awkwardly walked away from the snake with the sudden change of heart, confused as the moment she entered this jungle.

* * *

Sorry for the short chapter! Really busy! More to come!


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